THEIR IRISH IS UP
With St. Patrick’s Day coming Wednesday, Eire’s glitterati — from Hollywood to law and literature — are rallying to block the proposed $52 million sale of the historic Fifth Avenue mansion housing the American Irish Historical Society.
Opponents fear proceeds from the sale of the Gilded Age property, known for hosting big parties celebrating Irish-American heritage, will be spent on a cheaper new home in a dumpy part of town.
“I am absolutely shocked and stunned that they would do away with one of the few beautiful memorials of its kind to our Irish heritage in America,” Malachy McCourt, 89, the New York-based Irish-American author and actor, told The Post. “We can’t allow this to happen.”
A parade of other big Irish and Irish-American names, among them actor Liam Neeson, joined forces with McCourt urging state Attorney General Letitia James to stop the sale of the mansion across from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, owned since 1940 by the nonprofit.
Neeson — whose latest flick, the thriller “The Marksman,” is in theaters — was reportedly furious when he learned of the plan.
“We believe that, like St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, this architectural jewel is a living moment to the struggles and success of our immigrant ancestors,” said a petition signed by Neeson, McCourt and 44 others, including writers Alice McDermott and Colum McCann and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon.
The Irish government called a potential sale a tragedy.
The opponents of the sale who organized this effort believe under law the attorney general’s charities bureau and the state Supreme Court may have to approve the sale of the building because it is owned by a nonprofit. Neither responded to requests for comment.
“The AIHS is a cultural and scholarly organization devoted to making better known the history of the Irish in the United States as well as celebrating the riches of Irish culture globally,” the society said in a recent press release. “The decision to place the building on the market has been made in order to best enable the society to pursue its cultural and scholarly mission in a sustainable manner.”
The Beaux Arts revival mansion is also famed for its enormous trove of Irish-American literature, periodicals and historic artifacts, including the first printing of the Bible in the Irish language.
“Frank and I were very much in love with the building’s library,” said Brooklyn-born McCourt, referring to his late brother, author of the Pulitzer-winning “Angela’s Ashes.” He called the collection “treasures that date back to an era when No Irish Need Apply was a common sign, and we had our own Irish Lives Matter campaign.”
A former leader says the society’s claims of need are a load of malarkey.
“I bet you could run it for $500,000 a year instead of the present $1 million or so outlay,” said James Sheehy Normile.